IBM Launches Global Entrepreneur Initiative

By Nathan Eddy |
Posted 2010-04-01

Technology giant IBM March 31 announced
an initiative to open its resources to startup companies in an effort to "help
this next generation of entrepreneurs capture emerging business opportunities
in fast-growing industries such as energy and utilities, health care, telecommunications
and government. ... The IBM Global
Entrepreneur initiative provides startups with no-charge access to
industry-specific technologies in a cloud computing environment. Under the new
program, IBM will provide access to its research community as well as sales,
marketing and technical skills."

IBM said that the new initiative is the first opportunity for startups to:
"access IBM's software portfolio
through a cloud computing environment, including IBM
industry frameworks to accelerate software development; work [with] scientists
and technology experts from IBM Research to
develop new technologies; take advantage of dedicated IBM
project managers to assist in product development; attend new IBM
SmartCamp mentoring and networking workshops with VC firms, government leaders,
academics and industry experts at the global network of 40 IBM
Innovation Centers to build business and go-to-market plans; [and] tap a new
social networking community on IBM DeveloperWorks
to connect with other entrepreneurs and more than 8 million IT professionals
from around the world."

The announcement continued:

"IBM announced the initiative to 300 venture
capital, business, government and academic leaders at an IBM venture capital forum in Bangalore, India. IBM's Claudia Fan Munce, vice president of
corporate strategy and managing director of the IBM Venture Capital Group [... said,] "Businesses
around the world are increasingly applying new technologies to address
industry-specific needs, and technology startups are looking for new ways to
capitalize on this trend.[...] IBM's goal
is to help entrepreneurs gain the skills they need to bring new ideas to market
faster using IBM technology to accelerate industry transformation
and fuel innovation."

As part of this program, IBM is collaborating with 19 global industry
and technology associations to identify and connect local start-ups to the
initiative through IBM SmartCamps and forums at IBM Innovation Centers throughout 2010. The
associations include: SD Forum, TIE Silicon Valley, Mass Tech Leadership Council, TIE Austin and MassInno in the United States. [...]

The criteria for start-ups to
participate in the IBM Global Entrepreneur initiative are: 1) the
company must be privately held; 2) in business less than three years; and 3) actively
developing software aligned to IBM's
Smarter Planet focus areas."

"A large number of venture capital investments in the technology industry
will be targeted at entrepreneurs in the U.S., China, Israel, UK, Germany,
France and India this year," said Promod Haque, managing partner for
investment group Norwest Venture Partners. "To make these investments
count, startups must have the right skills in place to bring new technologies
to market more quickly. Venture capitalists, businesses, government and
academia must all collaborate to ensure today's entrepreneurs are prepared to
succeed."